AMIS rallies stakeholders against exam malpractice

The Oyo State government is evolving strategies to punish examination malpractice as a way of deterring perpetrators and sanitising the education system in the state.

The Commissioner for Education, Professor Adeniyi Olowofela, made the remark on Thursday, at a workshop on examination malpractice organised by the Association of Model Islamic Schools, Nigeria (AMIS), Oyo State chapter, held at the Conference Centre of Lead City University, Ibadan.

Professor Olowofela said the state under the Abiola Ajimobi administartion, in line with its restoration agenda, would leave no stone unturned in curbing examination malpractice which, according to him, is causing “unimaginable” damage to the integrity of education in the country.

The commissioner, whose address was delivered by the Special Assistant to Governor Ajimobi on Education, Mr Adekola Adewuyi, who also represented his principal as the special guest of honour at the occasion, assured that the state government would continue to partner all stakeholders in the crusade against the evil of education malpractice.

The guest lecturer, Dr Alex Akanmu from the University of Ilorin, emphasised the need to restore the sanctity and validity of examination in Nigerian schools, noting that the only way to achieve this was by checkmating “the irregularity called examination malpractice”.

Dr Akanmu listed the key areas to be addressed in tacking what he called advance-level examination malpractice in the country to include adequacy of space in the examination environment, provision of modern screening facilities and training and remuneration of supervisors.

In his welcome address, the chairman of the association in the state, Alhaji Lawal Abbas, said examination malpractice had remained a bane of Nigeria’s educational system.

Alhaji Abbas lamented the incidence of the misconduct at the different levels of education and said that all hands to be on deck to address the situation and sanitise the system.

Expressing regrets that academic certificates from Nigeria stood the increasing risk of losing respect abroad, he said all avenues must be exhausted by the government and other stakeholders to stop all forms of malpractice and restore the glory of education in Nigeria.

Keynote addresses were delivered by the Comptroller, Nigeria Prisons Service, Oyo State command, Alhaji Yussuf Gazali, as well as representatives of the state commands of the police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), CSP Akeem Mustapha and Mr Akande Akintayo.

In a remark tagged “spiritual diet”, a former Head of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan, Professor Afis Oladosu, said malpractice is not restricted to examination halls as it cuts across all human undertakings.

He advised all those cheating on the system in which they operate to change their ways and atone for their sins in the interest of moral rejuvenation and social development.

The Iya Adinni of Yorubaland, Alhaja Sekinat Adekola; the state coordinator of the National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO), Alhaji Dawud Afolabi and other dignitaries attended the workshop.